Sergeant Paul Jackson
by Humphrey Wolfe
Summary: The world mourned as many of the heroic soldiers of the USMC died in battle after being hit by a nuclear shockwave, or is there still someone alive?
1. Chapter 1: Nightmare That Happened

-Sergeant Jackson –

Chapter 1: Nightmare That Happened

"Sir, you're up. It's time"

The man with white hair, light tan skin just sighed, the New Haven born politician, skipped a beat of his own heart despite efforts that was made to quench the unnecessary anxiety, not to mention empathy, which seeped its way into his soul. His thoughts, he needed to clear it up, just as so that his mind would think – thinking of the right words to be precise. It was only for the announcement.

The announcement, however, was only a teensy little task. He only had to say 'Hey, our soldiers died in the Middle East'. Well, the hell it would. Being a leader for one of the most powerful and most influential countries in the world, had its pros and cons; but it was mostly the cons, if you had noticed. The economies, imports, exports, migrants, drug dealers, terrorists, abductions, lots of things would affect the sane being of the President, but did the citizens care?

The President snapped back into reality, clearing his mind up and said," Oh, yes, yes, I know that"

He stood and wiped away his creases on his vest, clearing his throat, afterwards. Lights flashed on his face as paparazzis and reporters emphasized on the very being of George Bush. He smiled, smiled for the press, smiled for the people, smiled for America. He assured everybody that everything is _under control._

 _Silence,… emptiness,…_ there was **nothing** now. It only lasted a few seconds but now, everything was, _gone_.

 _Flashback_

The USMC made their way in to Baghdad, trying to apprehend Khaled Al-Asad, the general of the Ultranationalists, to find a lead on Imran Zakhaev, the most powerful man in the Middle East which threatened to destroy the corrupted world.

It was smooth sailing for the Americans but the location of the wanted man was just a fraud. The USMC , miraculously, were just making their way out of the haywire and insanity from an unknown threat, reportedly a nuclear device until call sign _'Deadly'_ crashed from the blast of an RPG-6. Sergeant Jackson, Paul Jackson, one of the soldiers in another helicopter, held on for dear life as they were making a U-turn to save the downed pilot. Long story short, Sgt. Jackson saved the she-pilot, avoiding _mere_ death as he and Lt. Vazquez hopped on the chopper with the others, catching up with the others. That is when **it** happened.

The bomb exploded and most of the USMC was affected by the blast, sending them crashing down. Everything was hectic, spinning in a whirl of death, and…

 _Present_

Jackson woke up from a sickening splat, heavily breathing from the impact. Visions were blurry, but all that he knew was **everyone** was _dead._ He tried to stand up, but he hardly did as he instantly fell down, adding more of the gritting pain he felt. So, he decided to _crawl_ his way out. He did it, but everything that he saw, though blurry, made him wish that he was dead. He was delirious as he thought he heard the sounds of _children_ playing around. The buildings, looked like the aftermath of a doomsday, in fact, it was only rubble left. He eventually struggled to get up again, forcing every ounce of energy left in him to walk away from the hazardous air. But he failed…

 _Flashback 25 years ago_

" _Mom, mom! I wanna ride that too!", the little Jackson said._

 _It was a very joyous weekend fun fair. The kids, and even adults, enjoyed the activities and rides there. It was one of those few times that it was held and little Paul won't miss the chance on being there. He was really enjoying the time; riding almost_ _ **all**_ _of the rides._

 _The sun was starting to set and_ _its orange and yellow-like rays dawned itself upon the fair. Paul and his mother then went on the last ride, which apparently no one else seemed to want to ride it; the Ferris wheel. They got on and it rotated until they're on top, overlooking the peaceful scenery._

" _Paul?",_

" _Yes, Mom?", Paul replied, happily eating his ice cream_

" _Had fun today?",_

" _Of course I do! BEST DAY EVER!", he shouted, making his mom laugh, until she heard what he said next,_

" _But if only dad was here…",_

 _Paul began to lose his cheery state and looked down quite sadly. His mom saw this and she, too, began to remember the memories of her husband, always smiling at them with that caring gaze. She didn't even realised that Paul was sobbing at that moment._

" _Hey,… don't cry, don't cry… What's the matter?",_

" _I miss Dad…",_

" _Paul, we all do, so much, but there's nothing we could do",_

" _Why did he have to leave us?...",_

 _His mother thought for a moment, and said," Paul, there are some things in life that just come and go; like cars. You don't see them at the road at the same place, right? They_ _ **move**_ _, just like Dad. No, he didn't leave us. In fact, he's right here",_

 _Paul instantly turned to his mother as she said those words. He saw his mother took off something from her neck, and gave it to his opened hand, closing it and gripping it tightly," This was your Dad's. It's the_ _ **only**_ _thing of what's left of him", she said," Wear it, Paul. Know that he'll_ _ **always**_ _be there for us, for_ _ **you",**_ _…_

" _huh, huh, huh, huh…_ ",

Paul woke up from his dream to miraculously find out that he's alive from the nuclear gas, though gasping for air. He instantly reached for his dad's dog tag and held it tightly in his hand, " _(Thanks, Dad)_ "

Still, he needed to get out of the hazardous conditions to stay alive. He used every will and might that he had left to get up. He packed his backpack filled with necessities (map, food, first aid kit, etc.; the food didn't get contaminated as the bag was a high quality (of course) air-tight duffel bag. He grabbed his SOPMOD M4A1 Carbine rifle and grabbed ammunition from his fallen comrades.

"Sorry, Lieutenant. Need it more than you do",

With no backup, communications, precise planning and behind enemy lines, he grabbed a compass to know where he's heading, but where is he heading?


	2. Chapter 2: Will I Be Dead?

**Hey, guys! Whoa, I did not expect that this story will be viewed by many. But I'm really glad it did! Thanks, you guys! I've been totally BUSY lately, with college stuff, etc., and I never got to update my story, which I'm pretty sure all of you are waiting for. So sorry. Also to Bluepaw265 and Zico Juan Carlos, your reviews has INSPIRED me to continue this! And, uh, Bluepaw265, this chapter will probably be the answer to your question.**

 **P.S. Just a heads up, most of it will be in Paul's point of view.**

Chapter 2: Will I Be Dead?

(Sgt. Jackson's POV)

 _Alright, first off, cough… find a radiation equipment, then, cough… shelter and finally find the commander, cough… in charge. Oh, God, the radiation's getting worse… cough, cough… urgh!... I felt like falling down again, but give me a break, I already made it this far, bringing myself up to, cough… walk like this, hell, I won't be if I ever fall down again. Guess I would just have to_ crawl _my way to the USA._

 _It's been a few minutes as I continued on the painful journey along… I don't even_ _ **know**_ _where I'm at right now, but I'm positive that I'm_ _ **far**_ _away from the crash site and heading east, that's where the nearest US troops were based. I covered my nose and mouth firmly with my hankie. I'm not sure if I'm_ _still_ _within the nuke detonation or not, but either way, I wouldn't want to gamble on that._ _I already did breathed a huge amount of it._

 _Current priority, I_ _must_ _find shelter for now, because you know what, screw the radiation equipment. The day's moving on to dusk and I don't want to be seen dying on the streets of the Middle East. Plus, how the hell am I going to find it?_

 _My legs began to shake violently from my body weight, plus the ever-increasing heaviness of the bag, now that I realized. God, I don't think I can walk much longer… I'm all drained up plus from that crash landing, I swore that I broke a few of my bones… Hell, I don't wanna think about that right now._

 _Luckily, thank goodness, I found a cave… waaait, what?! A_ _cave_ _?! How in the hell,… I'm seriously not paying attention at my surroundings. Well, at least I can set up a fire, right? I walked in and gladly put away all of my stuff down. I sat down and rested my head on the wall, only to burst into a series of brutal coughs a few moments after. It came out blood, a large amount of blood; probably from the radiation. Hmm, it would be nice if my friend, Sgt. Coulter, was here 'cause he's a medic. Bless him for what he's done to me and my crew._

 _I wiped it all away on my uniform, I am not using my handkerchief because I might need it for something else. Then I just sat there. Doing nothing. I watched the sky as the sun sets slowly beyond the horizon. The more my thoughts began to wonder, the more pain I began to feel. Heck, I just survived from a nuclear-prevention warfare, crawled out of a helicopter after falling from more than 8,000 feet_ _ **and**_ _merely surviving active radiation; now_ _that's_ _a story I would like to tell my kids, if I managed to stay alive._

 _Fire. Yep, fire, almost forgot. I sighed because I_ _ **have**_ _to get up to find branches and twigs and stuff like that. So, I wasted no time on getting up and, before I do, I remembered something – Jesus, this is a desert for crying out loud. No fire then, shit. The temperature's freezing right now and I seriously need warmth. So, the next best thing I came up with – I dug a hole in the ground and opened up my wallet. A bunch of pictures were there and I took them_ _ **all**_ _out. I went through all of them, memories replaying back in my head. The one with me and the Lt. back at the academy, the one that I finished my first mission with my squadron, the time that I celebrated my birthday in a covert ops, those were good ones…_

 _Flashback_

 _(Normal POV)_

" _Jackson, see anything?",_

" _Nah, man. The guy's still in the bog. Negative on any movement",_

" _Oh, shit. That bastard does keeps his life in check"_

 _It was late at night and Sgt. Jackson and his team were somewhere in South America. They're on a manhunt for black market drug-dealer Lucio Traore, Codename: Lucky. He dodged through EVERY USMC raid, that's 17 in total and survived with only minor scars, but they're determined to end this once and for all. He's now probably dealing with someone inside the mansion he's in now, but what he doesn't realize is that he's all boxed in, nowhere to escape. Sgt. Jackson spoke on the comm,_

" _Lieutenant, get in position. I saw something",_

" _Already am", was all he replied. He gestured his hand, motioning everyone behind to be in position._

 _Jackson and his partner, Cpl. Slater, looked on from the top of the roof as his team launched their guerilla warfare. Shots were heard as the guards of the mansion released a few rounds of their Avtomat Kalashnikovs (or more commonly AK-47, :P) but they were taken down skillfully a short while after. Long story short, they succeeded in terminating that rascal and they are now heading towards their LZ._

 _Lt. Vazquez walked up to Sgt. Jackson and said, "So, how'd you think you did as commander in charge?",_

" _Pretty good, actually", he said with his smug grin._

" _Huh, to think that I would ever let you be in charge again, birthday boy", everyone that heard that remark just followed their snickering along the way._

 _They then finally reached the LZ, just in time as the Chinook came down for their pick-up. They all took their place and were just glad that it was over, just to kill one enemy; they have been scouting and camping here and there to find intel about Lucky, now not so lucky._

" _So, boys, how'd it go?", asked one of the pilots._

" _All in a day's work. Just let Jackson here be in charge for the raid",_

" _Oh, really?"_

 _Then, Cpl. Slater butted in, "Yeah, could be better if the Lt. put me in charge instead",_

" _Hell, no. Over my dead body, you would. I'd rather put Kelly here more than you do", joked Vazquez, mentioning the rookie. They all then burst into a fit of laughter…_

 _Present_

 _Damn, good times. But, of all of them, I think I'm gonna save this one, it's a picture of me and the platoon, with mom standing next to me. Huh… well, it has to be done. I piled up all of the pictures and tossed them in the hole earlier. I grabbed a bottle of alcohol and soaked the pictures a good amount of it. And what I have to do next, will surely haunt me for the rest of my life. I picked up a lighter and then lit it up. I watched with grief as the fire began to burn all of my memories slowly with that feint sound of it. At least now I can keep warm for the rest of the night._

 _My stomach began to growl, I mean seriously, it_ _growled_ _. I began to search around my bag for food and found a few energy bars and packets of the typical military food. I decided to save the bars for tomorrow, just in case, and I started eating the packed food. Yep, it tasted like shit as always, but, hey, at least there's food, even if it's shit._

 _I finished eating the 'shit' and I decided it's time for me to shut my eyes close. Well, earlier today I did asked myself, "Will I be dead", and stuff, but look at me now. Even I couldn't believe myself, I mean, I could have just stayed back there and_ hope _for the best, but I'm not a quitter. I WILL push myself beyond the limits when the situation demands it. My thoughts began to wonder and I yawned for the first time today. Now with a clear objective ahead of me, I'm sure I'll be fine, but I've got a feeling that something's gonna happen tomorrow. Just not sure whether it's the good or the bad, but I'll know it soon enough._

 _ **Okay, guys, what do you think about this chapter? I just hope that it's long enough for your prying eyes to read. Sorry if I used wrong grammar or anything but, nobody's perfect. And also thanks for the views, I'm really hoping to make this story big someday. I'm not sure when will the next chapter be uploaded and I'm UBER sorry about that, but I'll try to post it as quickly as I can.**_

 _ **Humphrey Wolfe**_


	3. Chapter 3: Misplaced, Displaced

**Hey, guys. New chapter! Forgive me for making you guys wait for a looooong period of time?... Not to mention writers' block, my laptop was sent for repairs after** _ **a certain someone**_ **accidentally tripped over the charging cable and yanked the lappy, thus crashing it onto the floor. Yup, it ain't pretty, and virtually almost** **everything** **needs to be replaced. Now, it's not as good as new, it's BETTER than new, after adding a few tweaks to it. So, okay, enough of my problems, I guess most of you guys don't care, anyway… Now, I present to you;**

Chapter 3: Misplaced, Displaced

(Sgt. Jackson's POV)

"من هذا الشاب؟ [Who is this guy?]"

"يبدو وكأنه جندي ... [He looks like a soldier…]"

"انه يستيقظ، انه الاستيقاظ! [He's waking up, he's waking up!]"

 _I heard voices, no, I'm hearing voices. It's all over me. What is happening? This is not a dream, not a nightmare, but is this real? It began to get to me, it's making me…, urgh! What is this?!_

" _Maybe I am losing my mind…", I thought._

 _It was still dark, though. I still didn't open my eyes so it's too early to jump into conclusions. I began to feel the sunlight on my eyelids and I began to wonder and realize; where the heck am I really at?_

 _It was a bit dizzy, a LOT dizzy as I opened my eyes for the first time overnight. I became blinded for a few moments, the lights were too much for me at this current state. That was when the voices started to cease, at that moment I knew that it was real. As I regained clear vision, I immediately saw children around me, staring at me. I was on some sort of bed in a room. I was still in my Kevlar and uniform but all of my weapons and kits were taken away. First off, fortunately, neither of my hands or feet were cuffed. That's a good sign. I'm pretty sure I'm effed up if I were._

 _I eventually sat up and the kids began to rush out of the room. At first, there was silence but then a man, an Arabian, mumbled something to the kids and then entered the room._

 _(No POV)_

"أمير، كم مرة أخبرتكم بعدم الركض _..._ _[Emir, how many times have I told you to not run around...]"_

The guy look puzzled and berserk, then called out, "من ... ما أنت - حسن، من هو هذا الشخص ؟! [Who... what are you - Hassan, who is this person?!]"

The guy, Hassan, a lighter tanned skin than the caller, who also seems a bit younger, looks slightly alarmed as he came to his presence. He noticed that the Sergeant was up and about but didn't notice how mad the guy he was confronting. It eventually led to a heated debate, not that the Sergeant understood, though deployed for about almost 2 years and a half in the Middle East.

"كيف يمكن أن تجلب القاتل في هذا البيت! [How could you bring a killer into this house!]", the older-looking one spoke.

"لا! لم أكن. انه ليس قاتلا. حاول انقاذنا من الحرب، لا تحصل عليه؟ [No! I didn't. He's not a killer. He tried to save us from war, don't you get it?]", replied the younger one.

"له، بدأت الحرب في المقام الأول! [Him, THEY started the war in the first place!]", replied the elder, pointing at Jackson.

"بدأ الأسد ذلك! [Al-Asad started it!]", he paused, "انها !بسببه أن العديد من الناس ماتوا، بما في ذلك ... [It's because of him that many people died, including your...!]",

"توقف. كنت مجرد التوقف هناك حق. لقد كان ما يكفي من هذا [Stop. You just stop right there. I've had enough of this]", was all he said as he left the room.

Jackson, Paul Jackson, just sat there, needless to say, like an _idiot_ ; neither did he know what was going on nor does he know how to react to it. Either way, he took a guess that they are siblings, but, he'll know it soon whether or not if it's true. So, to break out of the awkward silence after the quarrel, Jackson started out by," You know English?"

The Arabian man then approach him," Fortunately, yes I do", he said, with that hint of Arabian dialect.

"Well, then, what the hell am I doing _here_? And how _did_ I got here?", he said, looking at the ground.

"Actually, I found you in a cave",

"Well, ok, but what makes you want to _bring_ me here?",

"Your mouth was bleeding with blood and you looked cold", he said, mentioning to a handkerchief stained with blood next to him.

The soldier then took a quick swipe to his mouth and realized, he was right.

"Who was that guy earlier?", Jackson pondered.

Taking a seat, he answered, "Oh, he's my older brother, Bahrin",

" _(Knew it)_ ", Jackson thought, "What was that about, if you don't mind?",

"Oh, he's always like that, since…", he paused.

"Since?",

"Since,… his wife died"

It was a moment of silence between them, yet again. Of course, being the inquisitive one since birth, he continued, "The story?",

"Well, as far as I know, it dated back about 8 months ago. Al-Asad's forces were pushed back. They eventually came into our village and camped there to counter-attack the Americans. Many of us are killed and despite our efforts in escaping, only that we know that survives is us. All of them didn't make it, I saw in front of my eyes that my brother's wife got shot in the heart. There's nothing we could do, and she died in his arms. Until this day, he didn't blame Al-Asad's men or either Al-Asad himself; he blames all of you. That's why he's like that, only me and him now that is there for his 3 children; he hates 'killers' like you"

The soldier immersed himself into the tale of Bahrin, seeming to understand he hurt that he felt, but he's not the only one that lost a family. Lt. Vasquez, Cpl. Slater, they're all his family that he had left, but now, gone. The memories are the only things that keeps him close to them, including his mom.

"So, aren't you supposed to be the same?",

"I don't think so. I'm opposite my brother. I trust you, and all of your teammates. I heard it in the radio, the explosion. I heard that all were dead, KIA was what it used,"

"Wait… are you hearing on an American station?",

"It's the most reliable for now, well, only for me", he paused, "I also feel sorry for you. It must have been hard to know that all you know, died",

"Well, it happened. Nothing can ever change what has happened. You can either move on or just stuck in the past…"Jackson finished, holding on o his dad's dog tag.

"Hassan, right?",

"Yes. And you?"

"Jackson, Sergeant Paul Jackson"

 **There you have it. I hope this will make up the long wait. Feel free to criticize or comment about this story, because, hey, I'm kinda new in writing stories, but I'm just REALLY passionate in doing it. Or, you guys could even share your own ideas on how this would evolve, but the storyline was already in mind and it's around the videogame's plot anyway, but, let's see how it goes. Finally, I'm probably not going to update a new chapter for at least 4 months so, buh-bye!**


	4. Chapter 4: Cheating Death I

**Hey, guys, another chapter! Just a quick note; I'm aiming to make this a 10-15+ chapter story though I'm not completely sure how, 'cause so far the in-game relation to this story is only present in 'Nightmare That Happened', Chapter 1. The rest of the plotline was mainly fictitious (and thus, I'm making a fiction of a fiction) and up to my imagination but it will ultimately be the big revealing truth towards the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise. For those of you who haven't tried Call of Duty before, I recommend you to play it, 'cause it's a friggin' awesome first-person shooter! (besides Battlefield and a plethora of other games). There are already "Infinite Warfare" and "World War II" but, on with the chapter, then…**

Chapter 4: Cheating Death I

(No POV)

"Hey, you heard about the accident?", said an aged man with the recognizable British accent,

"The explosion? Yeah. Now Baghdad's a frickin' graveyard", replied a fellow Brit, a younger one,

"Poor lads. That lucky bastard hadn't had enough, had he?", the aged man was assembling a gun on a table,

"Apparently", the younger Brit now standing up, "but Al-Asad won't live any longer",

"You're right", he clicked the gun and turned to him, "we'll take care of that".

There was a moment of silence until Gaz spoke, "Uh, sir, I'll make sure Soap and the rest are ready"

Captain Price just nodded subtly, "Affirmative. We'll head out shortly"

"How long have you been stranded here?", asked Jackson,

"Almost one week. We rationed food for the children and some for me and Bahrin", replied Hassan,

The sergeant was silent for a few seconds until he spoke, "Thank you for your help and", he struggled to stand, "after knowing you all, I found that it's best for you to follow me back to camp",

Hassan was baffled, but mostly relieved, "Are you sure?",

"Damn right, I am. Now get your brother and the rest, we're moving now"

 **197 words for this chapter… Hmm,… I know it's really short and all than the chapters before but I intend to do it that way, sorta. Alright, the truth is, the past months were hard and my brain was jammed with lots of issues in my life but, this chapter is kinda like an intro to the next chapter, which I promise you, WILL BE LONG. By the way, thank you for those who are reading this and those that always support me, and thank you for those certain people that shared this story to their friends, I want more readers, Yay!**

 **Humphrey Wolfe**


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